Nexus Q launch delayed indefinitely, no longer available for pre-order

Current pre-orderers will receive a free preview unit this week.

Shipments of Google's Nexus Q, the Android-powered set-top sphere that it revealed alongside the Nexus 7 back at Google I/O, have been delayed indefinitely while Google works to make the product "even better." To placate those who did pre-order the device, the same preview version of the device (now called "dev units") that was given out to I/O attendees will now be provided to customers with pre-orders at no cost according to an e-mail sent to those who had already placed orders.

Google provided no date for when customers will receive their Nexus Q dev units, but according to The Verge they will be sent out "soon." (A Google spokesperson later told Ars that the dev units would begin shipping this week.) It's unclear whether the improvements being made to the Nexus Q involve changes to the hardware—which would necessitate a new manufacturing run and possibly render the dev units obsolete—or simply changes to the Q's software.

While the device is being retooled, it is no longer available for pre-order on Google Play, though interested parties can sign up to be notified if its status changes.

The Nexus Q has garnered some praise for its unique form factor, but has otherwise received lukewarm and befuddled early reviews. That is partly because controlling it requires another Android device, and partly because its made-in-the-USA price of $299 is considerably higher than that of competing products like the Apple TV or products powered by Google's own Google TV.

To be fair, it's not the made-in-the-US that appreciably affects the price, it's the odd decision to include an amp, and possibly the same "wtf" thinking that resulted in this "answer to a question no one is asking" device.

It's interesting, just not all that useful. I suspect Google's retrenchment is to figure how to give it a raison d'etre.

I'm guessing this was the plan from the start. The price was high to discourage not-so-serious customers, and select people who *really* want such a thing. Give them away, so nobobody feels burned; this will actually encourage early adopters next time around, and help them say positive things about it.

In the meantime, Google will collect a much larger set of feedback than any other market study. The real cost of a few thousand units would be acceptable...

To be fair, it's not the made-in-the-US that appreciably affects the price, it's the odd decision to include an amp, and possibly the same "wtf" thinking that resulted in this "answer to a question no one is asking"

The amp wasn't even that good, essentially a TI 5713 amplifier chip which costs $2.15 (for 1k/orders, so Google probably paid even less).

To be fair, it's not the made-in-the-US that appreciably affects the price, it's the odd decision to include an amp

I know several people have cited the amp as the reason for the price-tag, but I have difficulty understanding how a 12.5W stereo amp could cost $200, especially since it's using standard, cheap, class D circuitry.

Maybe they'll merge it and the Google TV software? That would make the most sense, I think... Still, it's a peculiar move, certainly.

That's my guess. The WTF has to be why they would be marketing two different living room devices to customers at the same time - especially when this summer was supposed to be Google TV's big re-introduction.

With some small modifications, like HDMI out and Jelly Bean (and presumably/hopefully with Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Go apps), it becomes the Nexus TV Q. It would also look much more in place alongside their Nexus phone and tablet on Google's Nexus store (http://www.google.com/nexus).

Maybe they'll merge it and the Google TV software? That would make the most sense, I think... Still, it's a peculiar move, certainly.

Think about this. A company announces a give away of an expensive device, calling all pre-order units "dev units". I don't know about you, but to me that screams "We found something wrong with the device and we don't want bad PR (antennagate). Also, it can't be fixed in software."If it could be fixed in software, your pre-order would take even longer to fulfill. They would push an update to all the devices 'in the wild'. This stinks in the most obvious of ways of a hardware problem which Google is trying to mask as "making the device better". No shit, Sherlock.

At least they didn't come out saying "you've placed it on your media console wrong".

This seems to me to be a move motivated by a extremely low number of pre-orders. They used that to infer no demand and decided it wasn't worth it to put it in production. I suspect they will try to quietly kill the project in a couple months after the hype has died down.

Maybe they'll merge it and the Google TV software? That would make the most sense, I think... Still, it's a peculiar move, certainly.

Think about this. A company announces a give away of an expensive device, calling all pre-order units "dev units". I don't know about you, but to me that screams "We found something wrong with the device and we don't want bad PR (antennagate). Also, it can't be fixed in software."If it could be fixed in software, your pre-order would take even longer to fulfill. They would push an update to all the devices 'in the wild'. This stinks in the most obvious of ways of a hardware problem which Google is trying to mask as "making the device better". No shit, Sherlock.

At least they didn't come out saying "you've placed it on your media console wrong".

If it were a hardware problem serious enough to delay the release indefinitely, then they wouldn't be shipping out the broken units. That doesn't sound like a very effective way to *mask* a problem to me.

That's not to say they had a ton of units on hand to sell, but they're not doing this because the preorders were lackluster. They sold all the initial units within hours of availability.

Without knowing how many were available, saying it "sold out" is near completely meaningless. So they only made 250 units. Does "selling out" 250 units make it a success? Only if you don't include the 250 number!

I still can't believe this thing ever made it into production. Whoever thought this has a chance in it's current configuration in the current market needs to be removed from the decision making process.

That's not to say they had a ton of units on hand to sell, but they're not doing this because the preorders were lackluster. They sold all the initial units within hours of availability.

Without knowing how many were available, saying it "sold out" is near completely meaningless. So they only made 250 units. Does "selling out" 250 units make it a success? Only if you don't include the 250 number!

I still can't believe this thing ever made it into production. Whoever thought this has a chance in it's current configuration in the current market needs to be removed from the decision making process.

I never claimed it was a success, and I already addressed your other point in my post when I said, "That's not to say they had a ton of units on hand to sell."

So yes, it "sold out." How many units that means is largely irrelevant, because there was obviously demand among some part of the community, regardless of how actually useful the device seems, since they bought all of what was available within a very short timeframe. That sounds like a "success" by some metric. Had they kept preorders open longer, they may have continued to sell out, as far as we know. There was a lot of interested press on the device, but most concluded they couldn't find a use for it. That doesn't mean everyone thought it was useless.

I went so far as to say I couldn't justify spending $300 on it if you read my original post near the top of the thread. I don't personally see any use for the thing in its current incarnation, but there is clearly a lot of potential there.

Weird, but alright. Good on Google not to leave their fans hanging, but I can't imagine how to retool a $300 speakerphone/music player past what it is now.

Throw HDMI out on the thing and give it a proper GUI (JellyBean-based GoogleTV please!) and it becomes infinitely more useful.

Right now it has no GUI (without some hacking) and can't run any third-party apps (without some hacking), but it's running Jelly Bean already, so there's a lot that can be done with minor hardware tweaks and a trivial software tweaks.

I'm sort of bummed I didn't preorder one now, but at the same time there was no way I could justify spending $300 on something that really didn't seem that compelling in terms of functionality.

I thought the same thing when I saw the headline. Then again when Google was announcing the smorgasbord of stuff they were giving away at I/O I was bummed that I didn't try to get a ticket. Then I saw the entry fee was $900 and I didn't feel too bad.

I mean, I can get two of the three devices that I'd be interested in (Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7) for $500 without attending (yes, I know there are reasons to go to I/O that aren't related to the goody bag ).

Andrew Cunningham / Andrew has a B.A. in Classics from Kenyon College and has over five years of experience in IT. His work has appeared on Charge Shot!!! and AnandTech, and he records a weekly book podcast called Overdue.